Loom arrangement



Dec. 20, 1966 R, H, RQSSMANN 3,292,664

LOOM ARRANGEMENT Filed oct. 29, 1964 INVENTOR Y ,Pz/aduc A( @0mm/1,1m

J@ oRNEYs v United States Patent 3,292,664 LOOM ARRANGEMENT Rudolf H. Rossmann, Gauting, near Munich, Germany, assigner to U.T.L. Incorporated, Scranton, Pa. Filed Oct. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 407,503 Claims priority, application Germany, Oct. 30, 1963, Sch 34,082 1 Claim. (Cl. 139-18) The present invention relates to a novel loom arrangement, more particularly for looms wherein the weft threads are introduced by means of la plurality of shuttles moving in traversing sheds which are arranged in column fashion. The invention provides a novel arrangement of the loom elements, producing thereby a loom which is easy to build, to operate and to maintain, as will be explained hereunder in full detail.

Looms have already been designed wherein the warp threads are provided on a warp beam arranged in the upper machine frame portion from where the threads are led down along the rear 'of the boom. The wa-rpthread stop-motion mechanism is arranged in a horizontal section of the warp thread Ipath which follows; hereafter the threads are guided downward direction.

The formation of the sheds is accomplished in the region of this vertical path section, the healds reciprocating approximately in a horizontal direction.

Beating up is performed by vertical reciprocation of the reed; the cloth which is prepared passes over a sand roller in vertical, downward direction and is eventually wound on a cloth beam arranged in the lower machine frame porti-on.

Such looms have various drawbacks, of which the most prominent is that the loom operator cannot readily supervise the formation of the cloth and inspect the cloth or fabric which has been formed, since it is being ,formed and wound in a lower region of the loom which is difiicult to reach yand not easy to survey. Breakage of warp threads may not be readily repaired by the operator since the warp-threads are taken off at the rear yof the loom. The operator has to alternate between the front and rear sides of the loom for repairing any broken warp threads.

Another disadvantage is that a loom having the warp beam arranged on the top is so high that the operator is unable to supervise looms arranged behind the loom in front of him.

Yet another disadvantage of known looms of the described kind resides in the top-heavy loom frame due to top arrangement of the relatively heavy warp beam. It is rather cumbersome and difficult to apply the loaded warp beam to the upper machine frame.

Yet another drawback of such looms is constituted by the circumstances that the shuttles, moving within the traversing shed, rest with their weights on the warp threads within the shed angle on account of the vertical downward movement of the Warp threads. This impairs the free movement of the shuttles.

It is the object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned and other drawbacks of hitherto known looms. The invention has for one of its major objects to provide a novel loom arrangement which makes forsimple construction, easy operation and maintenance.

It is another object of the invention to provide a loom which is easy to manipulate from the front side only, where thread breakage can be handled by the operator, the formation of the fabric can be readily supervised, and the cloth formed on the loom readily be inspected, without unnecessary trips to the sides, and/ or rea-r of the loom.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a 3,292,664 Patented Dec. 20, 1966 "ice loom which permits not only the supervision of the loom in front of the operator but also of looms arranged behind the afore-mentioned loom.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a loom wherein the relatively heavy loaded Warp beam can easily be installed in a lower frame portion of the loom, without the necessity of lifting operations.

It is yet another object to provide a loom which is substantially free from vibration by arranging the heavy warp beam at the bottom of the loom preferably `at the center, whereby higher operating speeds and trouble-free operation can be achieved due to the prevention of untoward frame vibrations.

It is a further object of the invention to relieve the warp threads from the weight of the shuttles and thereby also to eliminate any risk of interference of the shuttles with the warp threads, thus further increasing the speeds at which the latter may move and at which the cloth is being produced.

According to one of the major features of the invention, `a loom arrangement is proposed wherein the Warp beam is located in a lower machine frame port-ion, preferably in its center line, the warp threads being guided therefrom in upwardly, substantially vertical direction. Correspondingly, the clot-h beam is provided in an upper machine frame portion, and may be displaced somewhat rearwardly yfrom the Warp beam thereunder.

According to another feature, the traversing sheds lhaving a pluralityv of shuttles are formed within a somewhat inclined, substantially vertical path section of the warp threads, from where the manufactured cloth is guided over a sand roller and thence to the topmounted cloth beam.

A still further feature of the invention provides one or more guide rollers or shafts -along the warp-threaded path wherever a change in direction is required, e.g. from horizontal to vertical, at the lowermost section of the path, or from vertical to horizontal, before the warp threads pass underneath the stop-motion mechanism.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be appreciated and more fully understood with reference to the following detailed description, when considered with the accompanying drawing, the sole figure of which shows the novel loom arrangement in a somewhat schematic, perspective view, as viewed by an operator of average size.

A machine frame 2 includes a lower portion 2a and an upper portion 2b. Centrally journaled in the former is a warp beam 4 for threads 30, which is freely accessible from the rear of the loom. The upper frame portion carries a cloth beam 6 `for cloth 40, preferably somewhat real-wards from the warp-beam taxis.

The Warp threads 30 are guided from the warp beam 4 to a guide roller 8 rotatably supported in a bottom frontal region of the lower frame portion 2a. From here the threads 30 pass in a substantially vertical, upward direction toward a second guide roller 18, after which the warp-thread path becomes almost horizontal towards the rear. This path section is well visible to the operator and has thereabove a plurality of conventional Warp stop-motion elements, as schematically shown at 10.

The relatively short horizontal path section ends at a further guide roller or shaft 28. From here, the threads pass upward at an angle, in approximately vertical direction, toward a sand roller 12 journaled on the front side of the upper frame portion 2b. The aforementioned cloth beam 6 is mounted to the rear from the sand roller 12.

In the sloping, almost vertical path section between guide shaft 28 and sand roller 12, the warp threads 30 pass through eyes of conventional healds (net shown) which are reciprocable, individually or group-wise, in a substantially horizontal plane.

the same traveling speed as that of the shed. The conventional actuating means provided herefor have not been `shown for the sake of clarity.

The weft threads applied by each of the shuttles 14 are beaten up by reed blades (not illustrated) which protrude between the warp threads.

The conventional weaving mechanism referred to hereinabove may be designed and operated, e.g. as has been referred to in applicants co-pending patent application Ser. No. 239,677, led November 23, 1962, :and entitled Weaving Method and Loom and may, of course, also comprise known means for equalizing or compensating changes in length of the individual warp threads, result-v ing from the usual shed movements.

The shuttles 14 running in column fashion within the traversing sheds substantially -rest on the upwardly acting reed blades or dents so that the shuttles run smoothly and without special supports Iand without risk of interference with the warp threads. The beaten up cloth or fabric 40 moves toward the sand roller 12 and thence to the cloth beam 6, as mentioned before.

The lower frame portion 2a may carry appropriate bobbin holders 16 for the weft-thread bobbins. A drive means for operating the shuttles 14 and for supplying the latter with weft threads may be provided on the upper frame portion 2b; this mechanism is schematically shown at 20.

It will be understood from the preceding description of the inventive loom arrangement that the entire mechanism can be made relatively light-Weight necessitating but a small oor area, since there is no heavy weight to be carried on top of the structure. It is known that the cloth beam takes up less space than the warp beam. Furthermore, the finished fabric may be removed from the rear side of the loom from time to time in the form of individual rolls if a cut of commercial size is iinished.

This removal of the rolls from the rear side of the loomV does not require stopping the loom.

The warp-thread path being at all times visible lto the operator, on the front side of the loom, any disturbance, like a thread breakage, can immediately be eliminated by repairing the broken thread and threading the warp thread through the warp-thread stop motion mechanism from the front of the loom. As the weft threads are introduced into the warp approximately `at chest height of the operator, the formation of the fabric can be readily supervised and the cloth formed on the loom and running upwardly from the region where the fabric is formed can be readily inspected.

Since a cloth beam is of much smaller diameter than a warp beam, the loom according tothe invention is of a height less than the eye level of an operator of average size even if the biggest known warp beam is used. Thus the operator is capable f supervising further looms arranged not only in the same row but'also behind the loom in front of him.

It should be emphasized that the weight of the shuttles Each of the traversing f shed elements includes a shuttle 14 to which is imparted is basically taken up by the reed dents, so that the former move safely and without difficulty, allowing thus higher speeds and better products to be achieved.

For purposes of the inventive loom arrangement it is immaterial which type of cloth-producing means is` provided. The aforementioned healds, sheds and plural shuttles are but one possible form of embodiment of what can generally be termed weaving station in a loom of the character described. K

The novel and surprisingly efiicient arrangement forming the subject matter of the present application can,

thus, also be applied to looms of other construction which` are tted with dilerently arranged weaving stations.V

The foregoing disclosure relates only to a preferred embodiment of the invention; which is intended to include all changes and modilications'of the example described within the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claim.

WhatIclaim is:

A loom comprising, in combination, a machine frame including a lower and an upper frame portion, a warp beam journaled approximately in the gravita-` tional center of said lower frame portion, a cloth beam journaled Iin said upper frame portion, means for guiding warp threads from said warp beam toward said cloth beam, said guiding means including a first guide roller located at the front and bottom of said lower frame portion for directing said threads away from said warp beam toward an extreme front portion of the loom, a

second guide roller vertically spaced from said first` guide roller, said first and said second guide rollers imparting to said threads a substantially vertical direc` tion of travel toward `said second guide roller, said threads in said vertical direction being exposed to free access at said extreme front portion of said loom while said threads move in yan upward direction, said guide means including a third guide rolle-r transversely spaced from said second guide roller, said second and said third guide rollers acting to change the direction of said threads from said vertical direction to a relatively short horizontal section in which the Warp threads move in a rearwardv direction, weaving means located above the region of said horizontal section, said third guide roller further acting in combination with a sand roller to guide said threads into a `further substantially vertical plane through said weaving means, the warp threads on said horizontal and on said further vertical section being freely accessible.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 605,603 6/1898 Emery 139-l8 1,225,446 5/1917 Lewis 139-18 2,799,295 7/ 1957 Juillard et al. 139-18 X i FOREIGN PATENTS 359,617 11/1931 Great Britain.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

DONALD W. PARKER, Examiner.

H. S. JAUDON, Assistant Examiner. 

